Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a known technique for treating pain. For example, SCS may be used in a pain management scheme to treat neuropathic pain, refractory angina pain, or peripheral vascular disease pain.
In some cases, SCS is applied in response to pain. For example, a patient may trigger the application of SCS (e.g., by actuating a switch of an SCS device) whenever the patient experiences pain.
In some cases, SCS is applied according to a schedule to prevent pain or other symptoms. For example, an SCS device may be programmed to apply SCS for a defined period to time, a defined number of times per day (e.g., for 2 hours, 3 times a day).
It has also been suggested that SCS may be used for cardiac management applications. For example, it has been suggested that SCS may reduce the number of ischemic episodes, shorten ischemic duration, reduce ischemic burden, and mitigate onset of ischemic episode. In patients with ambulatory ischemia who use SCS to prevent angina attacks and as needed to treat angina attacks, SCS has been shown to eliminate ST segment changes. In patients with high arrhythmic risk profiles, SCS has been shown to have an anti-ischemic effect as measured by changes in T-wave alternans (TWA).